


Becky Found Him!

by DrakeBorn



Series: Assistant to the Mad Scientists [4]
Category: Captain America (Movies)
Genre: Gen, Minor Character Death (Mentioned)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-10
Updated: 2014-10-10
Packaged: 2018-02-20 14:32:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,641
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2432240
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DrakeBorn/pseuds/DrakeBorn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"She found him..."</p>
<p>“After looking for so long.  We all thought she was on a fool’s errand.  I mean the girl did receive notification three times, but after the fall…”  [Peggy's] voice broke in pain.</p>
<p>On a recent visit with Peggy, Steve learned of another visitor.  One that left daisies (Steve's favorite flower) and who claimed to have found Bucky.  But was it a ghost from the past or just an echo of a memory?</p>
<p>Post CA:TWS.  This is a small bit of a much larger story.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. A Long Absent Visitor

Sam chose to wait outside.  Steve trusted that Sam understood why he continued to torture himself like this.  The House That Peggy Carter Built had been brought down and it had been his doing.  Even if Peggy couldn’t remember from one moment to the next that it had been done, Steve believed that some part of her _knew_ it.

Steve had loved her; her strength and certainty, her devotion and faith in people even with all their flaws, and most especially her spirit.  All of those things were still present in her even as the dementia took her memories and her sense of time.

Steve was moving on; he was.  His relationship with Sharon was evidence of that.  (And, maybe, so was his past occasional flirting with Natasha.)  But Peggy was still someone Steve cherished.  First loves were funny that way.  And if his visits could bring her any kind of peace, than he would continue to do so.

So, here he was on one of his regular visits when he walked into her room and noticed fresh flowers, maybe a day or two old.  Steve noticed that she was more relaxed with a more peaceful smile on her lips than he had seen in a long time (for him, not her).

He crossed to the visitor’s chair near her bed.  When she noticed him her face lit up like a sparkler and her eyes twinkled with excitement.  Her hand reached out to him.

“Steve, I’m so glad you’re here.  I have something important to tell you, so important.”

Steve took her hand and waited.

Peggy leaned forward and dropped her voice to a near whisper, “She found him.  Becky found him.” Her head nodded in reassurance.

Peggy’s expression turned mournful, “After looking for so long.  We all thought she was on a fool’s errand.  I mean the girl did receive notification three times, but after his fall…” Her voice broke in pain.

“But she found him.”

Steve felt a dread sink into his bones.  ' _His fall_.'

The front desk would have a list of visitors.  There was no reason to trouble Peggy with trying to figure out when ‘Becky’ had been here.

Steve asked, “How did Becca look?” because it was innocuous.

Peggy smiled, “Tired, but relieved.  He’d been through a horrible ordeal.  But he’s recovering.”

Nervously, Steve asked, “Did you see him?  Was he here?”

“No.  No, she didn’t bring him.  She wasn’t even going to bring it up.  But her relief at finding him was tangible.  A part of her that hadn’t felt joy in a long time was smiling again.  So, I had to ask.”

Peggy’s face grew serious, “She wanted to know if you ever forgave her.  She was afraid it was too late for forgiveness.  I told her she would have to trust you enough to ask you herself.”  Peggy took a breath.  “She seemed to think that wasn’t an option.”

Steve knew that Peggy’s lucidity was unstable and short lived at best.  Even so, she should have a few more moments of coherency.  But, he also knew that she'd come back to these types of things when they are emotionally meaningful.  So, he just had to wait.

There were a few questions he needed answers to and fewer ways to get them.  Steve settled for the least intrusive, “Did she mention anything about the Russians?”

“No, but that would make sense.”

Peggy’s lunch arrived at just that moment.  If she had any more to say on the subject it would have to wait.  The attendant proved to be too much of a distraction for her mind to hold the thread of their conversation.

Over the next four hours Steve had discovered that Rebecca Barnes found Peggy while Agent Carter was stationed at the New York SHIELD office.  And he found out that Peggy had a hand in Becca’s training though she departed for Europe before she’d finished.  But Russia never came up again.

In the years that followed, Becca had sent Peggy a lot of intel from all over Europe and Asia on different rising regimes and factions, some hostile and some not.  But her intent had always been to find her brother; to find Bucky.

At some point Becca’s death had been reported to her SHIELD contact.  That report was later discredited when she contacted SHIELD directly with intel on the Korean conflict.  Her death was reported three more times that Peggy knew of before a request for a memorial star was received.

Without one report of her death that was not discredited and with only the slightest realistic possibility of her being alive, Rebecca Barnes was officially listed on SHIELD’s rolls as being MIA.  Her white star with black outline hung very near her brother’s black KIA star on the monument near the Triskelion.

Steve wondered how close Becca could have gotten to the truth about her brother.  With the possibility that Bucky could have been used to take out Howard, Steve prayed silently as he listened to Peggy ramble on about the flowers Becca always brought her that his best friend’s sister never knew the truth.  He also prayed that if Bucky was used against Howard that the engineer never knew his assassin’s identity.


	2. White Star with Black Outline

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nick Fury knew a thing or two about Becky Barnes. And some of it was classified by someone other than SHIELD.

Less than a week after the ‘Peggy was visited by Becca?’ incident, Steve had a covert meeting with Nick Fury to receive any new leads that may hint to a location on Bucky.  Nighttime at a park, out in the near open air may not be the safest or most original place for a clandestine meeting between conspirators, but no one could argue the advantages it brought.

“Evening Cap.”

“Evening Director.”

Fury chuckled, “Point taken…Steve.  So, what's on your mind tonight?  To what do I owe the pleasure of your company on this glorious autumn evening?”

“Becca Barnes.”

Nick stopped breathing.

“You know of her.”  Steve was not asking.

“We’d met.”

Steve waited patiently for Nick to continue.

Fury seemed to gather up his courage to talk about her.  Finally, he said, “There were only about a dozen or so occasions and they were as brief as she could make them.  But, for better or worse, she was my first real endeavor into the scary next-level shit that we humans can’t seem to leave well enough alone.”

For just a moment, Fury seemed to withdraw into himself.  With a visible head shake, Nick lifted his head out of the past and back to Steve, “Why do you ask?”

“Seems Peggy believes she’s been visiting lately.”

Nick seemed to be briefly shaken by this news.  “Agent Carter is not all there, Steve.  You knew that when you began visiting her.  We gave you all the facts about her illness.  Whatever Peggy believes happened recently, it could have happened years ago.”

Steve paused for a moment to study the Former Director’s face.  “There were fresh cut daisies next to her bed.”

Fury’s face became the color of ash as the blood drained from it.

“So, this isn’t the first time.”

Fury waved it off, “Two, maybe three times in the past five years.  This would, I think, be the fourth time; but before that, not since 1969.  Daisies were a favorite of hers to give to people.”

A vision of a dozen daisies tied together with a pale blue ribbon flashed before Steve’s eyes.

“What happened in 1969?”  Even as Steve asked, he knew.

“She died.”

It took Steve a moment to shake off the shock.  “There have been several reports of her death over the years.”

Fury turned away from Steve; his face now pointed into the wind like the breeze would whisper some desperately needed answers to him.

Finally, he spoke, “Barnes has a grave marker at Arlington.  Now, there have been times since 1945 when that grave marker stood without flowers or a card on his birthday, but only for a year, two tops – and that only happened once.  Since 1969 and up until you thawed from the ice, that marker has stood bare.”

Nick was in Steve’s peripheral vision now.  And it was only because the moon light glinted just right that he saw Nick’s tears.

“She was a real fine lady.  It saddened me every time she was reported deceased.  The last time, I just shrugged and said, ‘We’ll see.’  Shortly after her lasted return there was nothing but silence.  Too long that silence stretched before Barnes’s birthday rolled around.  That’s when I knew.  I held out hope during the second year.  By the third, I requested a star for her.”

Steve hadn't known that.

“Did she ever get it?”  Steve knew the answer, he just wanted Fury to say it.

“I signed the order when I became Director.  The request form still had my name and level from 1972 on it.  She had gone dark before, you see, and no one wanted to believe it.”

The two stood quietly for a time.  Steve thought that perhaps Nick had decided to allow the tears to dry to his cheeks when finally he moved to wipe his eyes.

“Whoever this is, if it’s not the dementia screwing with her head, it’s not Rebecca Barnes.  Let her rest.”

Steve prompted, “You said ‘next-level shit.’”

“Yeah, I slipped, didn’t I?”  Nick looked slightly agitated with himself.  “Well Steve, I guess you should know that it’s classified, and not by SHIELD.  And I have a healthy respect for the fear at the _idea_ of reading you in _without_ permission invokes in me to not talk about it.  But if you find whoever it is you’re looking for; keep in mind what I told you, ‘Rebecca Barnes died.’  And this time, she’s not coming back.”

With that Fury left effectively ending the conversation and any further questions that could have come from Steve. 

_‘This time?’ Oh, come on!_


End file.
